When birch sap starts to flow. When to collect birch sap and how to do it correctly? Temperature, lack of rain, suitable hours of the day and other nuances
Any inhabitant of a Russian village knows perfectly well how and when to collect birch sap. The city does not provide such a luxurious opportunity to enjoy this wonderful drink in the spring, and because there are not too many birches in it, but to a greater extent because there will be little benefit from such juice. Gas contamination, use of reagents and other chemical additives poison the soil, and after it the herbs and trees growing on it. Therefore, if there is a desire to get a truly complete healthy drink, incomparable to anything in your taste, you will have to get away from the city, noisy highways and industrial areas.
When and how is birch sap collected?
With the onset of spring, nature wakes up, and active sap flow begins in the birch tree trunk. People say about this period that birches begin to cry. At this time, you can start collecting birch sap. It is very important to remember that when starting work, you need to act carefully and according to certain rules so as not to harm the tree.
Thinking about how and when to collect birch sap, do not stop near young trees. Their juice will not be very tasty, besides, a young tree may not tolerate such a procedure. Most delicious juice will give a tree with a trunk thickness of more than 20 cm.
Take care of creating the right wound. In order for it to quickly tighten, it would be more correct to prepare a small hole in the tree trunk with a downward slope of 3 cm, for which you can bring an ordinary drill with you. Valuable liquid will immediately begin to flow from the resulting hole. Insert any conductor (something that will allow the juice to flow directly into the container, such as a wooden groove) into this hole and guide it into the container. It is best to use a plastic bottle. The narrow neck will not allow insects and forest debris to penetrate, and due to the large volume, it will not have to be emptied so often - 2.3 times a day.
When a tree receives a cut, it immediately tries to heal it. Therefore, the productivity of birch will gradually decrease. Don't dig your old hole or make a new one - just change the wood.
A wound on a birch tree that has given up part of itself to support human life will heal very quickly. Returning to this place a year later, you will no longer find a scar on the trunk. However, in order for the process to be the fastest, after collecting the juice, your hole must be sealed. You can immediately find any dry twig or twig in the forest, and score a wound with it. Some "hunters for birch sap" bring garden pitch with them, which, like resin, close up the hole. Both methods are good, the main thing is not to leave the wound open so that the tree does not lose a few more liters of juice and dry out.
How to store birch sap
Most The right way drinking birch sap fresh, just obtained from under the birch. It can stand in the refrigerator for only a few days, so, we repeat, it is better not to gain much. While the season is on, you can always pick up fresh. If you want to save it for autumn-winter, you can do conservation. Only with this method of storage, many useful material birch sap will leave, and the taste will deteriorate a little.
If possible, birch sap can be frozen. With this method of storage, it will not lose useful properties and can be stored for about a year.
Having figured out the question of how and when to collect birch sap, you can very quickly prepare your own "source" of this nutritious drink. Just remember that we must save the trees for our children, so birch trees need to be injured with the least loss.
Chemical composition
Birch sap is very rich in vitamins, carbohydrates, minerals and other chemical elements. Also in this drink contains many saponins, essential oils, tannins and fruit sugars.
Birch sap is considered a treasure trove of chemical elements, because it contains calcium, potassium, copper, manganese and copper. Outwardly, birch sap looks like water, but chemical composition displays an advantage over all vitamin shakes.
Birch sap calories
In many countries, nutritionists of the most expensive and prestigious clinics advise drinking birch sap. Indeed, in addition to the benefits in the form of many vitamins and trace elements, you get only 22 kcal per 100 grams of the drink you drink. Birch sap is considered to be a low-calorie drink.
The benefits of birch sap
Birch sap contains many chemical elements: calcium, potassium and magnesium, which contribute to the recovery and strengthening of the heart system. The juice contains many biological enzymes and stimulants that help increase the level of the immune system.
Birch sap is also useful because it contains many tannic components that give the drink antiseptic abilities. Certain types of fructose and glucose stored in birch sap make it a stimulant for the human brain. Therefore, doctors recommend drinking this drink during heavy mental stress (at work, school).
Birch sap is allowed to be drunk by children, adults, the sick or absolutely healthy people. Due to its diuretic properties, the drink helps fight edema, which often forms in some tissues or throughout the body. So young mothers are recommended to drink birch sap to reduce swelling of the body.
Scientists have proven that birch sap does not cause allergic processes in human body. Therefore, doctors very often recommend using it for children.
Birch sap is useful because it helps the body cleanse the blood and kidneys. It is recommended to use it for intoxication of the body, symptoms of chronic diseases, as well as during severe inflammatory processes.
Birch sap should be drunk for colds and infectious diseases, because it not only helps the body fight the disease, but also removes the remains of the decay products of viruses and bacteria.
People who suffer from digestive diseases are simply obliged to drink it. After all, it is this drink that best of all stimulates the production of gastric juice, after which the digestion process is normalized.
If a person suffers from problems with the exchange of societies, then we again return to the use of birch sap. Because it contains many chemical substances that stimulate and regulate the metabolism in our body.
The properties of birch sap are widely used in cosmetology. After all, with its help, cosmetologists recommend fighting acne, boils and neurodermatitis. The drink also reduces sebum secretion, the amount of dandruff and the level of hair loss.
Birch sap contraindications
Despite the many beneficial properties of birch sap, it is not recommended to drink it for people who have problems with kidney stones. Also, do not abuse the drink for people who have an ulcer.
In everything you need to observe the measure, the use of birch sap is no exception. Drink a glass of juice every day and health will never leave you.
TOTAL!
Collection can be started from the beginning of sap flow (spring equinox), continue until the leaves bloom.
You can not use young trees.
You can not make wide cuts with an ax.
You can not take a lot of juice from one tree.
It is better to get 5 liters of juice from 5 trees of 1 liter each than from one.
You can: use a drill up to 10mm. A special groove or just a bunch of clean dry grass is inserted into the hole, through which the juice flows. At the end of the collection, a dry stick treated with garden pitch or a piece of wax is hammered into the hole. Mature, strong trees are used. After clearing, the juice can be extracted from the stumps.
Wine, kvass, syrup are obtained from birch sap.
Recipe for birch kvass:
Strain the birch sap through several layers of cheesecloth to remove debris. Add raisins, sugar and leave to ferment cool place. After 3-4 days kvass is ready. Then strain the kvass, cork the bottles and put in a dark, cold place for long-term storage. Kvass from birch sap can be stored until autumn.
When daytime air temperatures in the forest begin to show positive values, it is time to collect birch sap. This unique product which we talked about in great detail in the article “. So many lovers and connoisseurs of juice these days go into the forest and chop trees with an ax, cut the bark with a knife, drill holes in the trunks, clog the grooves, put pipes, strings, grass and hoses into the tree, tie and substitute bottles and cans. Leaving, they close up the holes with earth, clay, moss, window putty, plasticine, and even fill them with vitriol. Many come to collect juice without knowing the elementary rules of this process at all and act by trial and error. Others in the question "how to get birch sap?" they rely on the experience of their friends, or, as it is now fashionable, on the knowledge of the Internet.
But from the side of true professionals, all this violent activity looks like real vandalism and disgrace. And today I want to invite everyone who recognizes themselves, their friends and relatives in the above-mentioned "professionals" in the collection of birch sap to pay attention to the experience of specialists from Canada, where maple sap has been collected for several hundred years, but they do it carefully, even treating with some reverence for those trees that give them their magical nectar!
How to collect birch sap - Canadian experience in Russian forests!
Looking ahead, I want to say that Canadian farmers extracting juice in maple groves cherished for centuries, would be very dissatisfied with our Russian methods of extracting juice. But, unfortunately, even if you want to study their experience, then on the Internet you will not find a detailed and detailed experience of Canadians on the issue of how to get birch sap, although we have a lot to learn from them.
In order to introduce you to best practices, this article has collected the most important information according to the most effective and long-term, not causing damage to trees, methods of extracting juice. In essence, this is a translation and summary of several articles by Canadian experts, instructions and regulations of the Canadian and American timber industry. I hope that the Canadian experience on the topic “how to collect birch sap?” will be useful, and will be put into practice, and the old barbaric methods of mining will forever be a thing of the past.
A few words about tree sap.
As in Canada, maples are the first to wake up from hibernation in February-March in our Russian forests, although there are still snowdrifts in the forest and it is very cold at night.
The movement of juice in the trunk depends on the amount of moisture that has melted in the ground at the roots, as well as on the cycles of freezing and thawing water in the wood of the trunk itself, which work like a kind of pump. Juice is most abundant on a warm sunny day after a clear frosty night.
It is important to know that the juice moves along a relatively thin conductive layer under the bark. In the center of the trunk, the wood is dry.
The juice movement ends a few weeks after the last severe frosts, along with swelling of the buds and the appearance of the first foliage. The pressure inside the trunk subsides, and the juice stops dripping through holes and cracks in the bark.
By the way, besides people, birds also extract tree sap. Woodpeckers punch many small holes in the bark and drink the juice of maple, birch and other trees. Other birds also like to enjoy the spring drink of the most different trees. But people extract almost exclusively only maple and birch sap.
Why did you choose maple and birch for harvesting?
The fact is that the movement of juice from maple and birch is more abundant compared to other trees. Maple sap contains 2 to 4% sugar and has a mild "woody" flavor. Birch sap is less sweet, containing only about 1% sugar, and is almost tasteless. The juice of different trees of the same species can taste different. And even the juice of one tree in different time and in different points the stem is also different. One of the main characteristics of juice is its sweetness. The difference in sugar content between maple and birch sap is clearly visible when making a thick sweet syrup, a traditional Canadian treat.
For making 1 liter maple syrup you need to evaporate 40 liters of Canadian sugar maple sap. Our European Norway Maple gives less sweet juice. To obtain 1 liter of syrup, you need to evaporate about 50-60 liters (this produces a syrup that is in no way inferior in taste to Canadian). And to get 1 liter of birch syrup, it takes from 80 to 100 liters of birch sap.
For information, I will add that maple sap, in addition to Canada, is massively produced in the northern states of the United States, and birch sap is industrially harvested so far only in Alaska; in other regions, it is extracted only for domestic use or as a small addition to the maple crop. In Russia, the industrial fee maple sap impossible, and birch is not developed. And only in Belarus the production of birch sap reaches industrial scale, and forestry in the spring is everywhere busy collecting it.
How to choose a tree for collecting juice?
Healthy mature trees give sweet juice more abundantly. A thick straight trunk, a dense crown, many living branches and the absence of dry, free arrangement in a group of other trees indicate that the tree will give a lot of juice and withstand human intervention without harm to itself. At correct collection juice, such a tree will remain healthy, and its productivity will only increase from year to year.
A good tree on a warm sunny day can produce up to 8-9 liters of juice. And on a cloudy cold day from the same tree you can not get even 2 liters. On average, for a season lasting about 3-4 weeks, about 50 liters of juice is collected from one tree, birch or maple. Usually the maple season in central Russia begins at the end of February, the birch season at the end of March.
When and how to start collecting?
On the southern slopes, well warmed by the sun, the movement of juice begins earlier than in the depths of the forest, and here you can start tapping earlier.
Juice at the beginning of the season is the sweetest, although it comes in small volumes. But you can only do a tap at this time if you are going to complete the collection within a few days. Firstly, there is a danger of the return of permanent frosts, and in this case, the flow of juice from the hole you made may stop completely, which is why you will have to return warm days make an additional hole in the trunk (and this is highly undesirable). Secondly, early and prolonged collection of juice leads to a deterioration in the quality of the bulk of the liquid, the amount of sugar in it decreases and pollution increases. Therefore, if you plan to collect juice for a week or more, then you should start work only at the beginning of an abundant current, determining it by one control tap.
Abundant flow is the collection of 4-5 liters of juice per day from one tree.
First of all, the juice will go on the south side of the trunk facing the sun. But do not rush and make a hole here. Heat will promote the growth of bacteria and yeast on the spout and in the juice collection container. It is better to wait until the juice is actively flowing along the north side of the trunk, and make a hole there.
How to collect birch sap without harming trees?! The main rules of correct tapping.
Tapping is a way of extracting tree sap. Traditionally in Russia, the question of how to collect birch sap is solved by making cuts and incisions on the bark.
In Canada, stripping trees with piercing objects is not practiced. The extraction of tree sap there is carried out by drilling a hole and installing special equipment to collect juice. All this has been practiced in Canada by thousands of farms over several centuries, and by now the most optimal tapping system has developed, which is equally suitable for maple and birch.
Proper tapping maximizes sap and minimizes both damage to the tree and microbial and fungal contamination of the hole and sap being harvested. Must be able to suck suitable trees at the right time in the right place of the trunk. At the same time, using the right equipment and monitoring the sterility of the drill, spout and hole in the tree. You should also observe the holes for the appearance of contamination and infection, and do not leave holes flowing with juice open, clog them with cork to prevent fungi, bacteria and insects from entering the tree.
The main tapping method is drilling. It must be understood that around the drilled hole (and any other damage to the trunk) under the bark of the tree, a non-conductive sap area always forms. So the tree reacts to the wound, fencing it off from the sap-carrying tissues with a scar of dry wood, which will never again be able to give juice. This area has the shape of an ellipse, elongated vertically.
The loss of this area is gradually compensated by the growth of the tree and the increase in the diameter of its trunk. The sap-carrying tissue grows in the area unaffected by tapping, and thanks to this, it becomes possible to collect sap for many years without significant harm to the tree. But for this, taking care that the formation of scars does not overtake the growth of healthy wood, it is necessary to observe correct mode tapping. And then, as the observations of scientists show, the tree will continue to grow and remain healthy.
To maintain the health of the tree, tapping should be carried out in moderation. In Russia, many people think that small trees, due to their youth, will give a lot of juice. But it's not. Small trees with a trunk diameter of less than 30 cm should not be dried at all, as well as larger but unhealthy, depressed trees. The collection of juice from them is scanty, and at the same time it kills the tree. Only mature healthy trees can be drained. In trunks with a diameter of 30 to 45 cm, it is permissible to make only one hole per harvest season. For large maples with a diameter of more than 45 cm, with good health, you can make two holes. Three tappings of one tree cannot be done, both because too much area of the wood is damaged, and because the crown will not take up a significant amount of juice necessary for foliage. The latest regulation from the Forest Department of Canada forbids making a third tap, regardless of the health and size of the tree.
In the question of how to collect birch sap, even more stringent rules apply. Because birch trees have a shorter lifespan than maples, thinner bark, and less developed root systems, it is reasonable to assume that they are more susceptible to water damage. Therefore, more than one hole should never be made on a birch, and large trees with a diameter of more than 20 cm should be chosen.
It should be noted that maple in the southern Canadian provinces is in the center of its range, and most of the trees are quite strong, healthy, and suitable for intensive sap collection. In Russia, in many areas, maple grows on the outskirts of its range, and therefore many trees are oppressed and will not be able to give without harm to themselves. a large number of juice. This should be taken into account when tapping. In this sense, birch has a much more favorable position in Russia. It occupies vast areas, grows almost everywhere, many trees are large and have excellent health. It is quite possible to collect birch sap from us intensively and at the same time it is safe for the trees themselves.
Another consideration in favor of moderate tapping of Russian maples and more active extraction of birch sap is the difference in the rate of regeneration of the forest stand. Maple forests, like oak and lime trees, are ancient forests. Once they stretched in a wide strip across the southern regions of central Russia. But all these thickets were brought down and plowed up a long time ago, and there are very few areas of the original broad-leaved forest left.
In place of the fields, the first thing to do is resume birch forest. And if you suddenly cut it down, then young birch trees will appear in its place again. If the maples are cut down, then a young maple forest will not grow in their place. At first, the same birch will occupy a dominant position, since it is our pioneer species.
And tens and even hundreds of years will pass before natural process change of stands will return oaks and maples to their original predominance in the forest. That is why maple groves are so valuable and need to be treated with care. Indeed, many years are required for their restoration, unlike birch forests, which are quickly renewed.
When tapping birch and maple in Canada, holes with a diameter of 11 and 8 mm are used. The diameter of the drill depends on the chosen tactic. A deep hole of large diameter leads to the formation of a large area of damage. The whole question is in the ratio of the volume of juice production and the degree of damage. A traditional hole in a tree with a diameter of 11 mm allows you to extract 20% more juice from large trees compared to the new type of 8 mm hole. But when extracting juice from medium-sized trunks, an 8 mm hole, being half the size, gives almost the same volume of juice as 11 mm. At the same time, it tightens faster, and the area of damage in the trunk is almost half as much.
It is interesting to note that when maple is tapped with two 8 mm holes, the sap collection increases by 50%, which is more than from one 11 mm hole. At the same time, due to the small diameter and small drilling depth, damage to the trunk with a double tapping of 8 mm turns out to be similar to drilling a single hole of 11 mm. In Canada, many farmers are switching to 8 mm holes, abandoning the traditional 11 mm, despite the fact that the latter also allowed without special harm for large healthy trees, collect sap for many years.
For "home" collection of juice for one family, a tapping with a small diameter of 8 mm is certainly more suitable.
Following these principles minimal amount holes of minimum diameter and minimum depth, while maintaining sufficient production volumes, allows the tree to build up the sap-conducting area faster than it is lost during tapping, which allows for a sustainable long-term collection of juice.
In addition to the fact that birch sap tastes good, it is also full of substances necessary for the body. Fresh Juice birch is able to normalize the microflora in the intestines, break down kidney stones, help the immune system in the fight against lung diseases. It is also used in cosmetic purposes. Most healthy juice- this is the juice directly collected by you from the tree. Simple Rules This procedure will help you to get this tasty and healing drink easily and without consequences for the birch.
We choose the time to collect the juice. Immediately after the spring equinox on March 20, you can start monitoring the flow of sap in the trees. To make sure that the juice has gone, find a young birch, the thickness of which does not exceed 10 cm in diameter. Make a thin puncture and observe. A drop of liquid that comes out will tell you that you can start collecting juice. And do not be embarrassed if there is still snow around the tree. Birches very early "come to life" by spring, as soon as the first sun appears. We choose birch. Do not look for juice in thin birch trees, as you will only injure it with punctures. And the juice in young trees will not taste familiar to you. Also, do not get hung up on one tree, but rather select several trunks for your purposes. Birch will give you about a liter of juice without consequences for its life. Therefore, it is better to collect 5 liters from five trees than the same amount from one. Remember that urban birch trees do not have even some of the useful properties that you will find in forest trunks. Trees perfectly accumulate dirt, dust, exhaust gases, fumes from plants and factories. Their juice will be completely harmful to you.
By following some simple rules, you can enjoy healthy drink, and save the birch from death.
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Birch sap (birch)- This natural product, which is extracted from birch, which has a beneficial effect on the entire human body.
Useful properties of birch sap. Birch sap is a good general tonic for the most various diseases. It will help to improve health, enrich the body big amount vitamins, and also strengthen the immune system. It is recommended for vitamin deficiency, diseases of the blood, joints, skin, as well as tonsillitis, bronchitis, pneumonia (pneumonia) and other respiratory diseases.
The use of birch sap promotes the splitting of stones in bladder and kidneys, blood purification, increased metabolic processes. It removes from the body harmful substances with infectious diseases.
It is useful to drink juice for stomach ulcers, liver diseases, duodenum and diseases of the gallbladder. It helps with low acidity, sciatica, rheumatism, arthritis, tuberculosis, scurvy, headache and sexually transmitted diseases.
Birch sap will benefit not only when used internally, but also if used externally, as a home remedy for washing and rinsing hair. Wiping your face with it daily, you can easily get rid of acne and blackheads. And rinsing your hair with birch sap diluted with water will help not only strengthen your hair, but also get rid of dandruff. Prepared from birch sap healing tinctures which are used in cosmetology.
He is rightfully one of the valuable gifts nature.
The composition of birch sap includes: sugars (fructose, glucose, sucrose), organic acids, enzymes and substances with high antimicrobial activity (phytoncides). A lot of birch sap and mineral elements that our body, weakened over the winter, needs. Having drunk birch sap, we replenish the body with a supply of potassium, calcium, sodium, magnesium, iron, manganese, copper. Taking at least one glass a day for 2-3 weeks (optimally - three times a day for a glass half an hour before meals) will help the body cope with spring weakness, beriberi, absent-mindedness, fatigue and depression. Birch sap is contraindicated for those who are allergic to birch pollen.
When to collect birch sap. As a rule, birch sap begins to run when the snow melts, and swollen buds are the first sign that it is time to collect birch sap. The collection of birch sap stops when the leaves are already blooming. The exact period of extraction of birch sap depends on weather conditions.
Approximately - starting from mid-March, when the snow melts and the buds swell, until the end of April, when the leaves are already blooming.
How to collect birch sap.
- You can not use a young tree to collect birch sap! Choose birches with a diameter of more than 20-30 cm with a well-developed crown.
- Collect juice only in ecologically clean forests, away from highways. Although the roots of the tree take water deep from the soil, the tree itself is able to absorb harmful substances and exhaust gases.
- Do not use an ax to collect birch sap. It is better to use a drill with a 5-10 mm drill or a gimlet. A hole is carefully drilled in the birch trunk with a downward direction at a distance of 20-40 cm from the ground. The depth of the hole is made 2-3 cm in order to penetrate under the dead bark, and if the birch is very thick, then even deeper. Such a hole in a birch trunk overgrows almost without a trace.
- There is no need to make a deep hole - since the juice goes in the surface layer between the bark and the wood. It is better to make a hole on the north side, since there is usually much more juice there. In the hole made, attach a tray or tube through which the juice will flow. Direct the device into a bottle, jar or bag.
- The most intensive sap flow through the tree occurs in the light half of the day, so it is advisable to start collecting juice in the morning. best time for collecting birch sap - an interval from 10 to 18 hours.
- Do not drain all the birch sap from one birch. The number of holes that are recommended to be made depending on the diameter of the tree - birch diameter 20-25 cm - one hole, tree diameter 25-35 cm - two holes, at 35-40 cm - three, if the birch diameter is more than 40 cm - four can be made holes. It is better to take several trees and take a little juice from each of them per day than to collect the whole birch from one birch and destroy it. Sometimes you can extract juice by cutting small branches and attaching to the cut plastic bag or a plastic bottle.
- After collecting birch sap, cover the hole tightly with garden pitch or clog the wound wooden cork or moss.
How to store birch sap.
If you have collected a lot of birch sap and there is no way to use it right away, to keep it longer, pour it into glass jar and refrigerate. But the juice cannot be stored this way for longer than 2-3 days, it will begin to become cloudy and deteriorate.
The time for collecting juice is very limited, it can be stocked up only in early spring during the first thaws. Get drunk enough, but also have time to preserve birch sap for the winter. There are many recipes to prepare this gift of nature for the future:
- Birch sap with lemon;
- Birch sap with mint;
- Birch kvass;
- Birch sap with needles;
- Vinegar from birch sap;
- birch syrup;
- Wine from birch sap
We told what it is: birch sap, when and how to collect birch sap.
Good luck to you!
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